The Bannockburn resident set to be Lake County's next coroner said one of the first things on his to-do list is sitting down with the funeral directors and police chiefs in the area to "mend some bridges that have been a little broken."

One week after Election Day, Gurnee-based dentist and Republican candidate Howard Cooper remained solidly in the lead in the three-way race for coroner, which also included former Waukegan police officer and deputy coroner Michael P. Donnenwirth as the Democrat on the ballot and incumbent Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd running as a write-in candidate.

The Lake County Clerk's Office released a preliminary tally of write-in votes cast for Rudd on Monday, showing the first-term Democrat with 8,421 votes compared to the 141,513 cast for Cooper and 125,387 for Donnenwirth.

The unofficial results do not include provisional ballots or late-arriving mail-in ballots, which can continue to roll in through Nov. 22, but with only 4,306 ballots remaining uncounted and another 6,304 potentially on the way, there aren't enough ballots to turn the tide for Donnenwirth.

That means Cooper will likely take the oath of office on Dec. 1, something he said he's very excited about and looking forward to.

He'll take over for Rudd, who said he's "disappointed but not heartbroken" over the results.

Rudd sent out 75,000 postcards in an effort to raise awareness of his write-in campaign, a route he chose after he withdrew from the Democratic primary in December over issues with his petition signatures and then lost a court battle to appear on the ballot as an independent.

"I am in the situation I am because of my own mistakes," Rudd said, referring to the problems with his petitions that had led to a challenge that could have kicked him off the March primary ballot.

Rudd said he plans on returning to public service, either running for another elected position or pursuing another option that allows him to give back to the community.

During his term, Rudd has earned criticism from some law enforcement officials and made national and local headlines with his involvement in high-profile cases like the shooting death of Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz and the murder case against Melissa Calusinski.

Cooper said he currently has no plans to make any changes to cause-of-death rulings made by Rudd, but he will review everything when he gets into office.

"The police certainly aren't going to influence our decisions," he said. "But we still need to be able to work together. The bottom line is we're working to the same goal. We all want to know why it happened, what happened, who it happened (to). That's all the same goal."

Cooper also has plans to implement death prevention programs aimed at youth, he said, adding that he wants to, "make this office very positive for the county (and) do a lot of good things that people aren't used to coming out of the coroner's office."